Julian Grant resisted the urge to block the person and relayed to The Vault, “A lot of companies want to sign you. Some of them have a pretty good reputation. Our Trident knows a bit about them, and the contracts they offer are quite fair.”

The Vault replied directly, “Not signing. Thanks.”

While replying, Julian Grant muttered, “You’re making me feel like your agent.”

The Vault laughed, “Be more confident—how can you call yourself an agent if you’re not getting paid?”

Julian Grant: “……”

The reluctance on his face was almost overflowing, which The Vault found amusing.

She raised her hand to check the time, and in a daze realized she’d already been sitting here for an hour and a half, just chatting with Julian Grant.

The Vault checked her watch twice to make sure it wasn’t wrong, her eyelids twitching in surprise.

Spending time idly like this felt a bit wasteful, but it was actually quite nice. Listening to Julian Grant on the side warning someone, saying things like “Stop sending this to me,” The Vault put down her hand, stood up, and said, “I’m heading back.”

Julian Grant stopped mid-sentence and asked, “Should I walk you back?”

The Vault smiled and asked, “The instance just ended—don’t you guys have work to do?”

Julian Grant remembered the pile of reports he owed, and a flash of resentment crossed his face.

Slacking off at work! That’s a boss’s legitimate right.

The Vault stood there without moving, and after a while said again, “Thank you.”

“Thank me for what?” Julian Grant’s train of thought was just as jumpy. “Just pay me, that’s enough.”

The Vault: “I mean, thank you for saving Logan Carter.”

Julian Grant’s gaze flickered, avoiding her eyes as he said, “It was just a game, after all.”

The Vault’s black hair fell against her pale face. She blinked, a hint of mistiness appearing in her dark pupils. “That’s enough. At least now everyone knows that Logan Carter’s death wasn’t because of Harry Forrest. It was something that could have been avoided.”

What a guilt-ridden thing this was—when ninety-nine out of a hundred people said Harry Forrest killed his own mother, and with his own guilt added in, Logan Carter would only become a crime he could never shake off for the rest of his life.

But Trident’s game proved that it wasn’t any one person’s fault.

For netizens, this realization might only bring a fleeting, painless reflection, but for Harry Forrest, it was already a kind of redemption.

“I know you all wanted to help him,” The Vault said. “You were the first company with influence in the entertainment industry willing to help clear his name.”

Julian Grant said, “We’re just respecting the facts.”

The Vault: “So thank you for your respect.”

Julian Grant: “It’s nothing.”

The Vault said, “I’ll head out first. Goodbye.”

“Hey—”

The Vault turned back.

Julian Grant called out to her, but hadn’t thought of what to say. He rubbed his ear, and finally said, “Take care of yourself. Eat well.”

The Vault chuckled softly and nodded.

·

At 8 p.m., most of the day’s escape room instances had already ended. Many players, like Wallace Franklin and The Vault, had actually already gathered the key clues in the instance and deduced the causes of death for the two people, but due to time constraints, hadn’t explained them. Some viewers couldn’t keep up with their reasoning and made wild guesses in the threads.

So, in the official post for the instance review, Trident directly posted a reconstruction of the crime scene that had been skipped in this round’s [Crime Analysis]. The title read: #The Death of 宁婷婷#.

The video was made in animation style. Victim No. 1, female, was represented by a red humanoid doll. Victim No. 2, male, by a blue humanoid doll.

Footprints and bloodstains on the floor were also marked in corresponding red and blue, making it clearer for viewers.

The entire short film used official data such as blood spatter, footprints, and the angle of knife wounds to reconstruct the scene. Every trace left at the scene was a dying message written by the victims with their lives, and forensic technicians translated them and pieced together the complete scene.

The camera shot from a diagonal overhead angle, focusing on a model of a house without a roof.

The video began with the two dolls having a conflict in the bedroom. The blue doll unilaterally beat the red doll and smashed a desk lamp from the room onto the red doll’s head. The bulb shattered, blood-streaked shards flying everywhere.

The red doll retreated to the wall, leaving irregular red bloodstains on it. She grabbed a shoe at hand, threw it at the other, and shouted loudly, escaping the bedroom.

The red doll staggered to the door and opened it. She left more bloodstains on the door and handle.

Unfortunately, she didn’t make it out of the heavy iron door. The blue doll chased from behind, grabbed her clothes, and dragged her back.

A long drag mark was left on the floor as the red doll struggled weakly.

They struggled to the living room coffee table, where the red doll was pinned to the glass tabletop, her head turned to the side, her neck under immense pressure. She managed to grab a kitchen knife from the fruit plate and stabbed backward.

The blue doll clutched his wound in terror and retreated, while the red doll, in a burst of inexplicable strength, launched a frenzied counterattack.

The situation reversed.

The red doll stabbed the other several times, until she hit a fatal spot.

Seeing her husband stop moving, she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, pushing herself back step by step with her feet. When she reached the edge of the sofa, she finally came to her senses, raised the knife, and stabbed herself in the chest, choosing suicide.

Harry Forrest should have appeared after this.

Netizens were left speechless after watching the entire short film.

This silent and childish scene was filled with suffocating despair. Watching Tiffany Dawson flee and resist in vain, they felt a strong, breathless sense of helplessness.

They couldn’t imagine—if it were them, would they choose to be beaten to death by their own husband, or, like Tiffany Dawson, pick up the knife within reach and make one last desperate struggle before the end?

Most would probably choose the latter.

No one is born to endure pain; the desire to survive is written in our blood. It’s instinct—it’s right.

The ridiculous thing is, when this crime first happened, countless netizens who didn’t know the truth mourned this domestic abuser, sympathizing with him for being entangled with a notorious murderer because of marriage. Little did they know, the one who truly lost his humanity was this self-righteous man—he destroyed not only himself, but three other people as well.

The whole thing was endlessly absurd and laughable. For a moment, no one knew how to comment.

“If only—even if just one neighbor in the building had come over a bit earlier after hearing Tiffany Dawson’s cries for help, maybe this tragedy wouldn’t have happened. She screamed so loudly; the news said people three floors up and down could hear her, but then what?”

“Not only is history a little girl anyone can dress up, so is good and evil.”

“Harry Forrest could practically change his name to Dou E, but at least now he finally has a chance to clear his name. Trident, please follow up on his other cases.”

“How can someone just vanish into thin air? He’s such a famous fugitive. Could he have already snuck out of the country?”

“If he did sneak out, that’s not so bad. The situation was too dangerous for him in the past few months.”

“So who killed the first three witnesses? That’s still undetermined, right? I don’t think we can clear him of suspicion for the earlier cases just because of this one. Making a blanket judgment is wrong.”

“Harry Forrest probably cares a lot about the truth. After all, his mother and sister are still here. I don’t think he’d leave.”

“Since the authorities allowed Trident to make this instance, does that mean, subconsciously, they also lean toward Harry Forrest being innocent? It’s just that his sudden disappearance forced him to take on the suspect’s identity. If Harry Forrest showed up, would things get better?”

“Logically, yes. But from Harry Forrest’s perspective, do you think he’d still trust the police?”

“I think he would. Several players crossed the red line during the game, which shows that doing so can effectively attract police attention and help with escape, but Harry Forrest never did. I think he’s someone with principles.”

Just as netizens were starting to discuss the matter in all directions, a post with a jarringly different tone suddenly appeared, quickly becoming a hot topic and floating to the top of the homepage.

The poster’s username was one everyone was quite familiar with—someone who often hung out on the Trident forum and was very active. Because their posts were so credible, netizens had long assumed it was a work account for some MCN company and paid attention to its internal news.

This time, the poster only wrote a few short sentences, but every word was sharp as a knife, aimed straight at The Vault.

“Naive, you’ve all been fooled. Do you know who that QC1362 you’re discussing is? She’s Harry Forrest’s teacher. She only came to this game to whitewash Harry Forrest.”

“[Picture] Her real name is The Vault, you can check on the Ashford University campus network. She lives near the school and was recently dismissed for personal conduct issues.”